Congress Just Passed a Farm Bill That Legalizes Industrial Hemp. Other Than That, It’s a Disaster.

But probably the most appalling part of the farm bill is the widening of an agricultural subsidy program that’s already been widely criticized for sending benefits to people who, by most measures, would not count as farmers. Congress rejected a proposal to limit those subsidies to individuals who live or work on a farm, and instead expanded eligibility to include farmer’s cousins, nieces, and nephews. As Caroline Kitchens of the R Street Institute highlighted this week, the changes would allow “distant relatives and their spouses to each collect up to $125,000 a year in subsidies, so long as they fill out the necessary paperwork.”